Slide fastener

ABSTRACT

A SLIDE FASTENER UNIT HAVING TWO ROWS OF LINKS WHICH ARE SECURED TO THE TWO HALVES OF THE SUPPORTING TAPE, EACH OF THE HALVES BEING A Y-TAPE WITH THE UPPER AND LOWER ENDS OF EACH HALF PARTLY COVERING THE ROW OF LINKS AT EACH SIDE SO THAT ADJACENT UPPER AND LOWER ENDS FORM PARALLEL LONGITUDINAL BANDS EXPOSING TO VIEW THE MIDDLE OF THE ROWS OF LINKS AT EACH SIDE WHERE THESE ROWS COME TOGETHER AND THE INDIVIDUAL LOOPS OF THE ROWS OF LINKS REMOTE FROM THE CENTER. THESE ROWS OF LINKS ARE FORMED BY WEAVING A CONTINUOUS LENGTH OF HEAVY DUTY THERMOPLASTIC SYNETHETIC MONO-FILAMENT AS A WARP INTO THE TWO SHORT ARMS OF THE Y-TAPE TO FORM LOOPS AND LINKS IN A SINGLE OPERATION. THE LOOPS AND THE LINKS WHICH ARE INITIALLY IN THE SAME PLANE ARE HEAT-DEFORMED BETWEEN THE FREE ENDS OF THE ARMS OF THE Y-TAPE TO FORM U-SHAPED LINKS FACING TOWARDS THE EDGE OF THE TAPE WHILE THE LOOPS ARE COMPRESSION SET AT THE PART OF THE ARM REMOTE FROM THE EDGE TO FORM A GUIDE FOR THE FASTENER SLIDE.

W. UHRIG SLIDE FASTENER Jan. 5, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16,1968 INVENTOR WILHELM UHRIG ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1971 W. UHRIG SLIDEFASTENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 16, 1968:

FIG. 3

INVENTOR WILHELM UHRIG ATTORNEY United States Patent ice 3,551,962 SLIDEFASTENER Wilhelm Uhrig, Mannesmannstrasse 11, Wuppertal-Elberfeld,Germany Filed Jan. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 698,203 Claims priority,application Germany, Feb. 1, 1967,

Int. Cl. A44b 19/10 US. Cl. 24205.1 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA slide fastener unit having two rows of links which are secured to thetwo halves of the supporting tape, each of the halves being a Y-tapewith the upper and lower ends of each half partly covering the row oflinks at each side so that adjacent upper and lower ends form parallellongitudinal bands exposing to view the middle of the rows of links ateach side where these rows come together and the individual loops of therows of links remote from the center. These rows of links are formed byweaving a continuous length of heavy duty thermoplastic syntheticmono-filament as a warp into the two short arms of the Y-t-ape to formloops and links in a single operation. The loops and the links which areinitially in the same plane are heat-deformed between the free ends ofthe arms of the Y-tape to form U-shaped links facing towards the edge ofthe tape while the loops are compression set at the part of the armremote from the edge to form a guide for the fastener slide.

The present invention relates to a slide fastener having rows of linkswhich are secured to the two halves of the supporting tape by weavingwith high strength, synthetic mono-filament on a high-speed loom or on aconventional ribbon loom which can be manufactured in high quality andat low cost.

The so-called woven slide fasteners which are known are formed withfinished rows of links during the weaving of each of the halves of thesupporting tape. In this known type of manufacture, a strong syntheticfilament which is to form the row of links is introduced into each halfof the supporting tape as a weft thread, twisted into the line ofthreads in the supporting tape and bound in. This method of weaving andbinding can be effected only with two shuttles and only with a smallnumber of picks. A higher number of picks cannot be successfully usedbecause of the difiiculty in deforming the high-strength mono-filamentsynthetic weft thread which, because of its a stiffness, resists pickingas applied in the conventional ribbon loom of high-speed loom.

It is also known in the prior art to introduce the highstrengthsynthetic filaments which are to form the row of links in the form ofwarp threads. However, in this case very complicated devices are neededin the loom in order to twist and deform the stiff synthetic filamentsduring the weaving operation, and again it is impossible to use a highnumber of picks when weaving this known type of slide fastener embodyingsynthetic warp threads and achieve thereby high production rates.

Slide fasteners are also known wherein ready made rows of links ofsnythetic fibers are employed, which fibers have been twisted orotherwise crimped and are 3,551,962 Patented Jan. 5, 1971 secured bybeing woven by special machinery during the weaving of the halves of thesupporting tape. The difiiculties which arise in the manufacture of thisthird type of fastener, e.g. employing pretwisted filaments, resultbecause of the resilience of the ready made rows of links which arespring-like and tend to wander. It is necessary that the links be guidedduring weaving and that the weft threads be introduced precisely inaccordance with the pitch of the row of links into the gaps which areprovided. This is possible only with a small number of picks.

Accordingly, all three prior art methods permit only a small number ofpicks to be used.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a slide fastenerwhich can be woven with a high number of picks, which is symmetricalwith respect to the center plane of the fastener, the supporting tapeand the rows of links which are in most part covered on both sides bythe fabric of the supporting tape.

Starting from a slide fastener of the kind referred to wherein thehalves of the supporting tape each consist of a Y-tape, the short armsof the Y-tape are brought toward each other by the method of the presentinvention with a high-strength synthetic mono-filament which is woven onthe tape itself to form the row of links and which runs backwards andforwards alternately between these two short arms.

According to the specific embodiment of the slide fastener of theinvention, the high-strength synthetic mono-filament is woven into thecentral region of the short arm and under the free ends thereof so thatthe free ends of the short arms cover both sides of the links to formparallel longitudinal bands above and beneath the links. The syntheticfilament in this specific embodiment comprises loops of heavy dutythread which are situated at the outer faces of the short arms at theside remote from the closing teeth and thereby form a guide for thefastener slide.

According to a further feature of the invention, the two short arms maytogether have the same number of picks as the long arm of the supportingtape.

The slide fastener unit according to the invention offers the advantage,inter alia, that each row of links is covered at both sides by the shortarms of the Y-tape and the slide which covers tops and bottoms of thehalves of the tape fits readily over each row of links and the loops atthe rear of the links so that the slide is, in effect, guided by the rowof loops of each half. This symmetry, above and below the plane of thefastener assembly, enhances the locking strength and facilitateshandling of the slide. Further, the slide fastener unit of the inventionis simple and economical to manufacture on high speed looms and onribbon looms, the slide fastener being produced during the weaving ofthe Y-tape with one shuttle by binding a synthetic filament into theshort arms as a warp thread, e.g., alternately and at regular intervals.Preferably, the weaving step to bind in the synthetic filament isefiected on a needle loom. After weaving, the woven-in syntheticfilament is then deformed by heat and pressure into a row of links atthe outward edge and a row of loops at the inward edge.

The woven-in synthetic filament forming the rows of links and loops isprovided with a plurality of uniformly spaced medial deformations ornips transverse to the longitudinal warp thread axis, all of the nipsbeing located at the top, or crest surface, of the nodal portion of theU to simulate, in miniature, the crater of a volcano so that all of thecraters in each half of the tape are in alignment longitudinally witheach half of the supporting tape. The sections of the synthetic filamentare thus situated between the short arms with each section beingdeformed by heating and pressing to form U-shaped links facing towardsthe edge of the tape. This U-shaped deformation of the syntheticfilaments to form links is effected in accordance with the inventionafter weaving by heat deformation under compression.

Although the slide fastener according to the invention may be producedon a conventional ribbon loom, it is especially advantageous that it beproduced at low cost on a so-called high-speed loom, e.g., a needle loomwith a very high pick capacity of well over 1000 picks per minute.

The high picking rate on the needle loom is made possible with themethod of the invention because the stiff synthetic filament which formsthe row of links is introduced in the form of a warp thread in only oneplace and also because the double picking has no disturbing orinterfering effect during the weaving on the needle loom.

The new method of making the slide fastener and the resulting newfastener made according to the present invention will now be explainedin detail and with reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows, in cross section, an embodiment of a slide fasteneraccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows the slide fastener of FIG. 1 in plan View; and,

FIGS. 3, 4 and are diagrammatic views which show halves of the slidefastener of FIG. 1 in intermediate stages of its manufacture.

In FIG. 1, the slide fastener comprises two halves 1, 1a of a supportingtape which are constructed in the form of the Y-tapes. The short arms 2,3 and 2a, 3a of the halves of the supporting tape are brought togetherby weaving the rows of links 4 and 4a continuously with loops 6 and 6a,respectively, these loops being shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The free ends ofthe arms, top 2, bottom 3 and top 2a, bottom 3a, partly hide the rows oflinks 4 and 4a, respectively. The rows of links 4 and 4a are each formedto provide loops 6 and 60, respectively, remote from the links, and areformed from a continuous synthetic thermoplastic filament, the loops 6and 6a being set by heat as shown for the links in FIG. 5. These links 4and 4a comprise the individual fastener elements which are substantiallyU-shaped in the view shown in FIG. 1 and which are provided with theclosing teeth 5 and 5a at the U-shaped arc situated at the edge of thehalves 1, 1a of of threads 6, 6a at the left and right sides,respectively,

remote from the closing teeth 5, 5a as shown in FIG. 2, these loopsbeing situated at the outer face of the arm of the tape and connectingtwo adjacent U-shaped fastener links in each case. The loops of thread,6, 6a, form a guide for the fastener slide 7 as shown in FIG. 1.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the intermediate stage of manufacture after thecompletion of the heavy filament weaving operation is shown for a halfof a slide fastener. During the weaving of the Y-tape 1, thethermoplastic synthetic filament 8 is bound alternately into the twoshort tape arms 2, 3 at regular intervals in the form of a warp thread.

Closing teeth 5, 5a are carried at intervals on this filament,

as shown in FIG. 4. These teeth may be formed in the synthetic filamentby preheating and pressing spaced portions thereof before it is woveninto the tape arms, but this forming operation for the teeth also may beaccomplished by heat-pressing or heat-stamping after the weavingoperation has been completed. Broadly, the teeth are formed by heatdeformation.

FIG. 5 shows the state of manufacture of the half of the slide fastenerduring the heat deformation operation described above and following theweaving process described in connection with FIG. 1. The two arms 2, 3of the Y-tape, together with the synthetic filament 8 which is stillmerely folded in the one plane, as shown during the manufacturing stageof FIGS. 3 and 4, are now compressed between pressure plates 10, 11under the action of heat. This action bends the sections of the filament8 between the arms 2 and 3 outwardly into a U-shape which extends orprojects from the edges of the Y-tape arms and the heating followed bysubsequent cooling sets this U-shape. During this compression andheating step, the free ends of the tape arms 2 and 3 may be rigidlyconnected to the flat sections of the U-shaped fastener links by meansof auxiliary adhesives, if desired, or by heat-sealing, if suitableheat-sealable threads, coated cotton or thermoplastic are used for thetape.

It is to be understood that the nips may be provided during themanufacturing process prior to or after weaving. The geometricrelationship between the depth of the nip and the diameter or denier ofthe filament is important; no more than 35% of the diameter is taken outby the depth of the nip and the nip extends lateral across the link to adistance of -80% of the entire hemicircular arc.

The filament is preferably a strong synthetic filament of the polyamidetype or of the polyethylene terephthalate type.

The following methods may be used for providing the nips:

(1) Weaving a filament having preformed, uniformly spaced nips;

(2) Using a hot wire for indenting or nipping after weaving and beforeheat deformation to the U-shape;

(3) Using a hot wire to indent or nip as the last step and after heatdeformation to the U-shape; or

(4) Pressing the nips with a punch which can be accomplished either withor without heat.

This last method (4) is preferred. In this preferred method ofmanufacture, during the weaving of the Y-tape 1, a bar is locatedbetween the short arms 2, 3 which, in the vicinity of the instantaneouspicking point or spot of weaving, is triangular in its cross section,analogous to the hollow triangular space show in FIG. 3. Further awayfrom the picking point or place of weaving the cross section of this barbecomes almost a quadrilateral, as shown in FIG. 5. In this FIG. 5stage, the nips are cold pressed with a punch brought up from the right.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements areillustrative of the application of the principles of the invention.Other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A slide fastener unit adapted for use with a fastener slidecomprising two halves of supporting tape, each half of the tapeconsisting of a Y-tape, two rows of U- shaped links, one row beingsecured to each tape half by a woven heavy duty, continuous lengthsynthetic thermoplastic filament warp thread, the upper and lower armsof each of the Y-tapes partly covering the row of links at each side toform parallel longitudinal bands exposing to view therebetween themiddle of the U-shaped links where they come together, the filament warpthread being formed with a plurality of uniformly spaced medial nips,the links facing towards the edge of the tape, the leg of each U- shapedlink having a single penetration through its respective tape arm andhaving loops inter-connecting respective links at the parts of theY-tape arms remote from the edge and at the opposite side of said armsfrom the U-shaped portions to form a guide for the fastener slide, themedial nips being located at the top nodal portion of the U with allnips in each half being in alignment longitudinally with the ends of thesupporting tape.

2. A slide fastener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the two arms are wovenso that together they have the same number of picks as the remaining legof said Y- tape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1966 Gerlach 24205.1CUX

9/1967 Chery 24205.1CUX

6 FOREIGN PATENTS 685,145 4/1964 Canada 24-205.13C 1,280,111 11/1961France 242O5.13C 384,264 2/ 1965 Switzerland 24-205 .130

BERNARD A. GELAK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

